Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

And having repeated this message on Natpres three times a week since Pontius was a pilot, I imagine that anyone open to persuasion will have been persuaded. Time to find a new audience?

 

About time it was grasped then.

 

But the track record at woody bay on that front *has* been good, so perhaps you can refrain from mentioning it again, else it's beginning to wander in the vague direction of trolling.

 

Twinning, maybe, at some future time. The VoR 2-6-2Ts have long been high in my estimation, and one of them would surely be a welcome visitor to Woody Bay? Sorry, my means do not allow me to pay for the transport costs but WIBN?

John

 

You had better note I had clicked "like" on Post 1210 which makes the same point in a calm fashion.

PH

 

The grant of planning application is wonderful news, but I agree with the use of a Churchill quote earlier in this thread - it is only the end of the beginning!

What has been very disappointing to see is the callous reaction by a number of people, who can easily be identified as L&B members/volunteers, to Ms Grob and Ms Hunt (Admittedly on Facebook rather than NatPres). Whilst we may not agree with them, they are entitled to their opinion. Sadly it would not surprise me if some of the more violent comments were reported to the police by Grob & Hunt - not the sort of thing that will help overall, surely.

 

While I can understand that the L&B doesn't want a Linear scrapyard, I would be very disappointed if they were to get rid of Axe in ten-fifteen years time, given that it was the first steam engine the L&B trust obtained. It probably won't be ideal for operating the Blackmoor Gate-Woody Bay Railway, but isn't Axe having a tender built?

 

Please tell me there were no threats made? (I don't do Farcebook) Thats all we need, and it just hands ammunition back to the other side, who had been doing a perfectly good job of self-immolation

 

Oh quite a few I'm sad to report, there's been all sorts of unpleasantness that really doesn't reflect well. Hopefully it won't have too much of an impact, but it can't be helpful.

 

Dammit. Whatever happened to magnanimity in victory? I hope they've been suitably taken to task by the more responsible.

 

I'm pretty sure most people, and indeed the L&B themselves, already know this and are trying to go forward with these points in mind. Though you still didn't exactly answer my question, which is do you have anything positive to comment on the project and the L&B as a whole, besides clicking on the like button of course. It's almost like your a parent who, however much their child may try to impress them, nothing's ever enough and instead you just persistently critique them.

Not what I personally think of you as such though, just how I feel you are perceived by most.

Oh you do? That is interesting to note, what link is that then, does your family have history in the area? I know that's the case for a lot of the long running volunteers of the L&B, their family have a connection of some sort to it.

 

Personally much like the local landowners that just want to repeatedly insult the railway and it's effort, I'd just ignore them. Not helpful their comments no, and I certainly don't condone them personally attacking and threatening those people either, but much how people like to say on here the landowners are entitled to their own opinion, couldn't it then be argued that to a certain extent the critics of those landowners are entitled to say what they wish too? Freedom of speech is not specific, it's for all of us.

Again I most certainly don't condone threats and personal insults whatsoever, but as for the rest that are just simply critiquing the objectors in a sensible manner, let them be. Got other more pressing things to sort out I'm sure.

 

Indeed, unfortunately most comments that I've seen (not on official L&B pages) fall into the former category.

 

Not altogether surprisingly, you are about 180 degrees off course. I just don't have to say "whoopee" to every scheme that comes along. If this means getting sandbagged by the starry eyed then so be it. The L&B is not the daftest scheme around, indeed not daft at all. It is, however, getting more expensive, almost by the day, for perfectly good reasons. Sixty years ought to be enough for the enthusiast fraternity to grasp how costly reviving a railway is likely to be. Regrettably, often this does not seem to be the case.

Regarding the third paragraph, this is a misunderstanding. I have no personal connection with the L&B although I I have friends that do. A number of volunteers on the IOWSR also volunteer on the L&B.

PH

 

I have no connection to the L&BR except that when I first came across it in a book, I just wanted to go and visit it, which I did and it just so happen to be at the same time the L&BR Association was being formed by Bill Pryor.

I have been a supporter and life member ever since. There are not that many members left since the beginning of the group, I think it amounts to less than a dozen at the last count.

Colin Rainsbury

 

Technically maybe you are right, but that fact that something is allowed doesn't mean it should therefore inevitably be done. In other words, a supposed supporter of the railway expressing an intemperate or aggressive view may only be observing the same free speech as a landowner, but hardly does the long-term cause they profess to support many favours. I haven't followed matters on Facebook, but there have been a few gloating and / or aggressive posts even here that might as a minimum be considered ill-judged and lacking magnanimity. A self-denying ordinance might be in order, not least because, if all goes to plan for the railway, it will have to co-exist with the surrounding landowners for decades to come.

Tom

 

More like an attention seeking child screaming 'look at me, look at me, listen to me' when others are talking.

Happy to give it out that anyone who has an idea is 'starry eyed', 'WIBNer' 'big chufferitis' etc etc but bursts into tears whenever it comes back at him.

Anyway, back to the issue in hand - great news for the L & B, it is pretty amazing considering that it was i) such an earlier closure and ii) such a late starter. I am sure that there will be set backs but I think it looks like the sort of example other potential groups looking to get going should be looking at.

With regard to the Grob's I suspect that if she worked as an actress then she probably still have plenty of media contacts and she also knows how to make herself available to the media for comment which is why she is featured so prominently.

And it is for this reason that anyone connected with the L & B and who supports it should take the high road with the Grobs. If anyone is in a position to ensure that there is a 'Train spotters threatened me' story in the press it is someone who is well connected to the media and who knows how to use it.

 

I have you on "ignore" but I had an inquisitive glimpse at what you had to say. No-one is "bursting into tears" which is a perfectly silly thing to say. Silliness and wishful thinking are not going to get the major, expensive civil engineering works done which will be required before anything else.

PH

 

I do really hope that this scheme does make progress and wish it all the luck in the world , but I think it should be respected that the Grobs are going to be greatly affected by this scheme if it goes ahead, the railway runs lengthways through the whole length of their land, passes nearby their farmhouse and the heaviest engineering work, the Parracombe breach, lies within their land.

 

And here was I trying to not be personally critical towards you... I had no idea you held me in such contempt, for I certainly don't feel the same towards you. Guess being an optimist I always try to 'cheer up' the less cheerful people I encounter, though not necessarily the best results. I apologise if I have seemed grating to you on here at times.

Not entirely sure why you want to keep tapping this same drum if the enthusiast fraternity have been going on like this for that long then, and why preach these points o here for that matter? If you really feel that strongly about these points, why not form or join some organisation to bring about such change and reality checks his movement needs? Talking about it on here isn't gonna do much if we're being truthful here.